Red alert on HIV spread
A DOCTOR has warned Cairns is becoming Australia's HIV capital, with a positive diagnosis every fortnight.
The shock warning comes as six Cairns businessmen, all heterosexual, have fallen victim to HIV recently after sleeping with prostitutes in Papua New Guinea.
Three of the men had partners in Cairns, none of whom had the virus, Dr Darren Russell, the director of the Cairns Sexual Health Service, said.
"We think the rate of new infection in Cairns is higher than Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne," he said.
"It’s not something to be proud of and the level doesn’t show any sign of abating.
"With a population of 150,000 people, one new diagnosis every fortnight on average is not good.
"We don’t have any indication of any other hot spots in Australia at the moment."
Dr Russell said he was concerned there seemed to be a new trend forming with heterosexuals being found HIV positive, although gay men still made up the majority of positive cases.
He said all the heterosexual businessmen infected in PNG were aged 45-66 and they made regular visits to that country, where about 2 per cent of adults are now infected with HIV.
"In general, these men didn’t use condoms for sexual contact in PNG and probably a lot of heterosexual men and women in Australia don’t think they are at risk of HIV," Dr Russell said.
Another concern for Dr Russell was a possible Aids outbreak in the Torres Strait. He said about 55,000 people moved between PNG and the Torres Strait each year.
He said the fly-in fly-out mining boom around Australia and neighbouring countries had also been blamed for an increase in heterosexual men contracting HIV in the past three years.
Speaking from Perth, Dr Russell said he was going to address a sexual health conference about the issue tomorrow.
Dr Russell also warned of fake novelty condoms which circulate around pubs and clubs and outside of Australia.
"We’re advising these men to take condoms with them," he said.
"Some of the condoms overseas may not be of the same high standard as Australian condoms."
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Warning: Dr Darren Russell has warned of HIV problems spreading in Cairns.
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